Mulesing pays

THERE is little doubt that the combined mules and tail strip treatment is still far ahead of all other blowfly control measures. This treatment can and should be carried out as farm or station routine practice in the same way as are other accepted management practices, such as lambmarking, drenching, etc

Shearing shed design

As the returns from sales of wool represent a large proportion of many farmers incomes at the present time, it is essential that the fullest consideration should be given to any factors affecting the lifting and preparation of the clip for market. Foremost among these is the provision of adequately-designed sheds with plenty of light and sufficient space for shearing and classing and for the wool tables, bins, press and other equipment

Mulesing and tailstripping : for the prevention of fly-strike

MULESING and tailstripping are basic to fly strike control. During emergencies and bad fly waves they may need to be supplemented by temporary protective measures such as jetting and crutching

Classing small clips

Correct classing of their own clips by farmers themselves can prove highly educational and definitely profitable. factors such as labour shortages, inadequate equipment and lack of confidence in their own ability to carry out the work, induce many woolgrowers to leave the classing of their clips to the brokers, but classing of the clip on the farm should be practiced wherever possible

Cull the low producers

EFFICIENT culling of maiden ewes before they join the breeding flock is an essential part of any policy of flock improvement. It is recommended when culling that paramount consideration be given to the removal of the low wool producers. Culling in this manner leads to an immediate improvement in returns and the economic advantages of such a policy are obvious

CONSUMER ATTITUDES TOWARD ORGANICALLY GROWN LETTUCE

This research shows that approximately 29 percent of lettuce purchases in California expect to purchase an organically grown lettuce product in the future. Organic lettuce purchasers are more likely to be female, have a higher household income and a higher level of education. Consumers are concerned with the freshness, quality, price, and environmental impact of the lettuce they purchase.Consumer/Household Economics,

Sheep crutching technique

To obtain the best results and achieve the maximum returns from wool-growing, it is essential that the sheep should be efficiently cared for. Correct crutching, systematically performed as often as is necessary is a definite step towards ensuring the comfort and welfare of the sheep. A large proportion of the sheep in the agricultural areas are crutched either too early or too late, and many flocks are not crutched at all. This state of affairs is mainly due to the shortage of professional crutchers so that there are obvious advantages in farmers and their sons being able to crutch their flocks themselves at the right times of the year. Article is only available directly from the library through a request via email

Does responsibility affect the public valuation of health care interventions? A relative valuation approach to health care safety

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright © 2012, International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR).Objective - Health services often spend more on safety interventions than seems cost-effective. This study investigates whether the public value safety-related health care improvements more highly than the same improvements in contexts where the health care system is not responsible. Method - An online survey was conducted to elicit the relative importance placed on preventing harms caused by 1) health care (hospital-acquired infections, drug administration errors, injuries to health care staff), 2) individuals (personal lifestyle choices, sports-related injuries), and 3) nature (genetic disorders). Direct valuations were obtained from members of the public by using a person trade-off or “matching” method. Participants were asked to choose between two preventative interventions of equal cost and equal health benefit per person for the same number of people, but differing in causation. If participants indicated a preference, their strength of preference was measured by using person trade-off. Results - Responses were obtained from 1030 people, reflecting the sociodemographic mix of the UK population. Participants valued interventions preventing hospital-acquired infections (1.31) more highly than genetic disorders (1.0), although drug errors were valued similarly to genetic disorders (1.07), and interventions to prevent injury to health care staff were given less weight than genetic disorders (0.71). Less weight was also given to interventions related to lifestyle (0.65) and sports injuries (0.41). Conclusion - Our results suggest that people do not attach a simple fixed premium to “safety-related” interventions but that preferences depend more subtly on context. The use of the results of such public preference surveys to directly inform policy would therefore be premature.Brunel University

Mapping surgical coordinates of the sphenopalatine foramen : surgical navigation study

Aims to identify measurements that may help intra operative localisation of the sphenopalatine foramen. The study used three dimensional surgical navigation software to study radiological anatomy, in order to define the distances and angulations between identifiable bony landmarks and the sphenopalatine foramen. The distance from the anterior nasal spine to the sphenopalatine foramen was 59 mm (+4 mm; inter observer variation = 0.866; intra observer variation = 0.822). The distance from the piriform aperture to the sphenopalatine foramen was 48 mm (+4 mm; inter observer variation = 0.828; intra observer variation = 0.779). The angle of elevation from the nasal floor to the sphenopalatine foramen was 22 degrees (+3 degrees; inter observer variation = 0.441; intra observer variation = 0.499). The sphenopalatine foramen is consistently identifiable on three dimensional, reconstructed computed tomography scans. Repeatable measurements were obtained. The centre point of the foramen lies 59 mm from the anterior nasal spine at 22 degrees elevation above the plane of the hard palate and 48 mm from the piriform aperture. We discuss how these data could be used to facilitate intra operative location of the sphenopalatine foramen in difficult cases